Monday, October 26, 2009

I pine for you

For this week’s DIY Day, I kept things super simple. If you can answer yes to the next three questions, you too can make this easy and uber cute (if I do say so myself!) Thanksgiving wreath.

1. Do you have pinecones?

2. Do you have hot glue?

3. Do you have scrap paper?
Everybody with me? Here we go!

Step one: turn on hot glue gun and gather pinecones.

Step two: arrange pine cones in a pleasing shape, I chose a square.

Step three: hot glue like crazy! I found that if I applied the glue really generously and sort of squished the pinecones together until they interlocked a bit, they stayed glued just fine. It helps to glue one cone at a time and hold in place until the glue has hardened. If you wanted to make a really big wreath, I would suggest making a frame from a metal clothes hanger and wiring the cones to the frame. However, for a small wreath, hot glue works just fine.

Step four: up the cuteness factor with some embellishments. I created a mini banner out of some scrap paper. I just freehanded the letters, glued them to brown construction paper squares, and taped the squares to some twine. If a banner isn’t your thing, you could add pretty ribbon, some of those fall berry floral sticks, or anything else that strikes your fancy.

I love how my wreath looks just propped up on the buffet, but it would also look very sweet hung by some ribbon on a door or window.

This seriously took about 20 minutes from start to finish and cost me zero dollars. That is my kind of project!

About Me

Our house is nicknamed “the roost” for a good reason; half of the house began its life as a chicken coop. No, really! When my parents were newlyweds, they turned the coop into a very small cottage with a master bed and bath and an eat-in kitchen. A few years later they added on a front hall, guest bedroom, laundry closet, and living room, making the cottage roughly the size of a two bedroom apartment. When I was eight, my parents built their dream home and the roost was rented to various families until Brad graduated from college in ’06 and moved in. Since then the roost has undergone some major renovations including new interior paint, a kitchen/dinning room overhaul that included new IKEA cabinets and laminate flooring, new carpet in the bedroom, and new wallpaper and flooring in the bathroom. Thanks to our family for making the transformation happen! There have also been many, many minor changes that are still on going. Of course, Brad and I have plans to build our own dream home in a few years. So, the trick to all of this is keeping an old home comfy and livable, while saving and planning for a new home.